Draven Bells
'Draven Allan Bells '''is a male human Necromancer Conductor, who is the main protagonist of the ''Bright Side to the Dark Arts book series. As of Dead Men Do Tell Tales, ''he works for COMIPOD alongside Mouse Matthews, and is 26 years old. Biography Draven Bells was born on April 26th, 1984 to Alistair Bells and Circe Poirier. At the age of eight, Draven was found by the Council of Magically Inclined Practitioner's of Dallas - who, at the time, hadn't come across a Necromancer for over a hundred years and believed him to be the last of them. Oxtrix Cooper, who was working as their historian, adopted Draven due to in-council talks of putting him down to avoid backlash from the community. He had no recollection of his parents or any coherent memory predating being found by COMIPOD. Due to the Cambion Kiss on his abdomen, more frequently referred to as his ''antenna or the Mark, Draven has access to powers fueled by the frequencies of the dead that make him a Necromancer. It is a parasitic demonic imprint latched onto his soul that acts as an antenna to the realm of the dead, adjacent to that of the living. Because it is a living thing, it requires the energy of life as nourishment. Throughout Draven's childhood, Oxtrix helped perform daily rituals that kept the hunger of his Mark at bay - without realizing that instead of satiating it, they were only pushing it back behind a wall - which would be broken when Draven came of age, at eighteen. At eighteen, Draven went into a fugue state due to his Mark breaking through and infecting the entirety of his soul, forcing him to succumb to Necromantic hunger and minimizing his human emotions. This lasted for exactly one year, when he woke up at midnight on his nineteenth birthday in a Louisiana field, surrounded by bodies and covered in blood. The next year, Draven was sentenced to execution for the use of his powers and the deaths it caused. The trial kept being postponed, though - and two years later, after the appearance of Victor Cardinal and the rediscovering of the Necromantic Kingdom, Draven was pardoned with the condition that he use his powers to assist the Council keep the Kingdom and other evils at bay, with the new threat of Neo Mortem being a primary concern. When he was twenty-four, he was framed for the murder of a veteran Terra warrior, which caused their court to put a bounty on Draven's head. Despite it not being an issue with the Council, Draven still tries to limit his use of actual Necromantic powers, preferring other basic Conducts, like fire and the blunt force of his old, deactivated staff. Conducts Draven's born Conduct is his Necromancy - which he barely uses for the strain it brings upon him, and his own set of morals. Most Conductors can only use their naturally born Conduct, but Necromancers are able to use a variety in small ways due to the Mark being the source of their power. They can't ever master them as well as someone born with it, but can still utilize it to fair effect. Draven's natural abilities allow him to summon spirits, possess items and other creatures, perform levels of telekinesis, and bring forth energy from the realm of the dead to cause his enemies harm (commonly referred to as the 'purple and black'). He has shown to be fairly adept at pyrosurgy, the creation and manipulation of fire, on a small scale. He uses it frequently as a quick, messy way to attack. He also is able to manipulate air and gravity, to a certain degree - like being able to remove the oxygen from small spaces, like an enemies throat, and throwing someone off their feet. He frequently wears loose, comfortable clothing which allows him to concentrate on bringing the energy forth to Conduct. It isn't something that can be done mindlessly, and he has to actively make himself withdraw the energy from the Mark, and through his fingers to the Conduct of his desire. But it has to be someone you truly want to do - as when he was suffering with depression due to his execution sentence, he didn't have much desire to Conduct, causing it to be weak when he did. And unlike other Conductors, like Mouse - Draven didn't have any opportunity to practice growing up. Most of the time, his abilities were kept in to avoid any mishaps from occurring. By the time of Dead Men, though, he can perform just as well as Mouse can, when necessary - especially by amplifying a Conduct like fire through his Mark's energy. Though no matter how much he uses it, he still ends up preferring a firearm. Relationships Oxtrix Cooper Oxtrix Cooper is Draven's adopted father - bringing Draven into his home when he was eight years old, and treating him like his own from the beginning. Oxtrix and Draven are incredibly close, maintaining an adult friendship and hanging out with each other whenever possible. Oxtrix knew of his Conduct since the beginning and through his knowledge, found various rituals that were supposed to help maintain his Mark - though Oxtrix is just a mortal, and nearly everything he knows is through books of various ages. It proved not to help as much as they thought when Draven gave way to it when he turned eighteen, but that didn't affect Oxtrix, who continued to stay by his son's side despite what had happened and even acted as his lawyer in front of the Council to try and get his conviction overturned. There is hardly any strife between the two of them - as Oxtrix is the main source of stability in Draven's life. If he needs any help, he doesn't hesitate to turn to Oxtrix. Amelia Cooper Amelia Cooper is Draven's adopted mother - and though they aren't as close as Draven and Oxtrix, they maintain a fairly close relationship, with Draven growing up calling her mom and Amelia always treating Draven as a son. Amelia, unlike Oxtrix, has no standing with the Conducting community at all, so she finds it a bit hard to help Draven as she doesn't understand much. And after his fugue state, she seems to have distanced herself a bit - but more so out of fear of losing Draven than fear of Draven himself. Mouse Matthews Mouse and Draven have been friends since Draven was sixteen and Mouse was seventeen. Mouse began working for the Council as a freelance officer since he turned seventeen, while Oxtrix was still employed as their personal historian. Mouse was constantly around the house when trying to get information for a case, and Draven and Mouse grew close like brothers. Either one of them would give their life for the other, and as they started working as a team together they've just grown closer. Glenn and Mason Margolis Draven and the Margolis' are friends through Oxtrix and Mouse. While he can always count on them if he was in trouble, they aren't personally close. Victor Cardinal Victor is the antithesis to Draven - a Necromancer who has fully been overtaken by the Mark and believes death to be the superior realm of existence, Draven tries to stop Victor in his quest to bring the ancient god of death back and would kill him given the chance. Victor is Draven's only link to the Necromantic Kingdom - located in a pocket realm, where Draven's natural family lives. Victor tries constantly to get him to the Kingdom, believing that he will join Victor's side when he finally gets to see where he's from - and though he finds it tempting, Draven refuses.